Silverlight (26 page)

“We’re going in then?” Magnus asked.

I nodded. “We’re going in.”

He slipped his dagger from the sheath at his
waist and rested one of Lady Gray’s hooves upon his knee.

 I had two perfect horseshoe nails in my palm a
moment later.

A
large crowd had gathered on the road outside
the castle walls, waiting to get into the market setting up on the bailey
inside. Every kingdom in Calari held such markets, the difference being that
the castle gates were usually thrown wide open.

Not in Pentorus. The guards at this gate
assaulted the men with cudgels and fists and groped the women as they passed
by.

 Kymber and I clung to the face of the rocky
ravine leading up to the road, hidden by the scrub bushes that struggled to
grow in the barren soil.

“They’re checking everyone that enters,” I
whispered.

“The sentries seem more interested in stealing
from the villagers than identifying them.”

“Said the woman with the only blue eyes in
Calari.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“The only woman with blue eyes who spent time
as a captive here then.”

“Yes.” Kymber bit her lip. “That’s probably
true.”

 My feet suddenly slipped out from under me in
the loose stones, sending a small avalanche into the creek below. Kymber
gripped my arm and pulled me up beside her, both of us wincing at the hollow
and echoing rumble caused by the fall of rock.

We were too far away from the gate for the
guards to hear it. Noisy people and livestock packed the road above us. “Did
you have to navigate this cut to escape?” I asked. “Or did you go another way?”

“Tell you the truth, I don’t remember. All I
remember is running across dirt and rocks, thinking my feet should hurt. They
were cut to shreds when I finally stopped, but I didn’t feel them until the
next morning.” She gave a short laugh. “It was slow going after that.”

“You must’ve come through this gully then. It
looks as though it goes the whole way around the castle. I can’t believe you
didn’t fall and break your neck if you were moving that fast.”

“I’m surprised I didn’t grow wings and fly
across. I was so happy to be free, then I was terrified he’d find me again.
Garai had plenty of horses, men, and dogs. He could’ve easily tracked me, but
I’m not sure he tried. That battle with the goblins must’ve kept him occupied
for days.”

“Lucky for you.”

“You can say that again.” She pushed a dusty
branch aside and peered up at the road. “This is just about the end of the
line. Should we crawl up a bit?”

“Yes, though it would be easier if we were
mountain goats.” I hung on to a thick branch so I wouldn’t slide again. “Wait
until the last person has taken at least twenty paces past us to join the
parade. Pull your hood up before you get on the road. Stay on my left side if
the guards get nosy.”

“Blue eyes notwithstanding, I don’t think we
have to worry.” Kymber flipped her hood over her head and pulled it down in front.
“It’s been two years since anyone here has seen me.”

“No assumptions. You still need to be cautious.”
We would have a fight on our hands if they caught us at the gate. Two against
too many weren’t favorable odds.

“I understand. We don’t want this to be over at
the gate.”

“Exactly. Ready?” I counted the footsteps of
the last couple as they passed, an older man and woman dragging a huge pig
behind them on the end of a short, frayed rope.

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Eighteen, nineteen, twenty. Go!” I scrabbled in
the rubble, each foothold generating a puff of gray dust and another small
rockslide.

I got to the road first, turning quickly to
pull Kymber up with me. We brushed the grime from our clothes and got into step
behind the pig. He turned and waggled his flat pink nose at us, but his owners
paid us no mind.

The line of people came to a halt a short
distance from the stone guardhouse at the gate. I peered around to assess the
situation. A tall, gap-toothed guard was trying to inventory everyone passing
through and failing. There were simply too many of us.

“Go on then,” Gaptooth snarled, striking an old
woman on the shoulder with the leather quirt he held in his fist. “Bunch of
lazy, good-for-nothing peasants.”

Kymber stiffened beside me. “Easy,” I cautioned
her.

After a cursory inspection, the couple with the
pig were allowed through the gates. Our turn. My mind hurtled in ten directions
at once as we stepped up to the guard. If Kymber were recognized, protecting
her would be my sole focus, even if I had to push her down that damned steep
ravine.

My worst fears came true when Gaptooth narrowed
his eyes and used the quirt to knock the hood off my head. I swear my heart
couldn’t have beat any faster. We were caught; I was sure of it. Damn it, we
hadn’t even gotten inside the castle grounds.

The guard stared hard at me. “Why d’ya have yer
hood up on such a hot day, man?” he asked. “Trying to hide something?”

I affected a Pentorian accent. “To keep the sun
off my head while traveling to market. Long day for us. Don’t wish to burn.” I
didn’t have to fake the nervous laughter.

He leveled the quirt at Kymber. “What about
you? Get yer hood off.”

No. No. No! Time ground to a halt as she pulled
her gaze to mine.

We both knew she had no choice.

Kymber reached up with shaking hands, took hold
of her hood, and slowly lowered it. Her eyes were as wide as full moons. I
prayed the guard didn’t notice how pale she was or that her bottom lip was
trembling.

The guard’s eyes narrowed again. For one tense
moment, I thought he was going to reach for Kymber’s breasts. Gods, she’d break
his neck then tie him in knots for good measure if he did, and that would be
the end of our quest.

He took a menacing step toward her, his intent
clear. Kymber straightened, her chest expanded with a breath. She was
apparently prepared to do anything to get us inside the grounds.

But something about her demeanor threw the
guard off. He made no move to touch her. Gaptooth threw me a sidelong – and
anxious – glance instead. I nearly burst with relief when he lowered his hands
and stepped back. “Pretty one, eh? Lucky you.” He whacked my shoulder with the
quirt and gave me a shove through the gate. “Get in there then, if that’s where
you’re goin’. I don’t have all day to stand here and gab with the rabble.”

I quickly pulled my hood up then supported
Kymber with my arm around her waist. “Steady,” I whispered. “It’ll look
suspicious if you go to your knees.”

“I’m shaking so much I can barely stand.” She
flipped her hood over her head.

“I know, but we’re in. Let’s see if we can make
our way through the crowd to the back of the castle. You with me?”

“All the way.”

“That’s my girl.” I swept her into the heart of
the market before I lost my nerve.

I
thought perhaps we
could hide in the shade of the castle itself, as it was safer than walking
across open ground. No matter how good our plan, this was the dangerous part.
As villagers in the crowd, we were nearly invisible. The guards would
immediately spot two people off by themselves, snooping, though no one would see
us if they looked over the lip of the parapet. It protruded too far out onto
the castle grounds, a design flaw if ever there was one.

I trained my eyes on our surroundings. Tall
shrubs stood in a long, thick row approximately ten feet from the castle. Good.
Between them and the overhang, we’d have more cover.

 A narrow path paved with smooth flagstones
wended between the outside wall and the shrubs, finally disappearing around the
southeastern turret.

We could follow the path, but we’d have to be
vigilant. It was there to ease the way for patrolling sentries, not sneaky
mercenaries.

Most of the vendors weren’t set up for market
yet, and that actually worked in our favor. We assisted in propping up a canopy
and catching several chickens whose crates had broken open as we passed through
the crowd. Slow and steady, we maintained a leisurely pace.

I blew out a breath when we got to the outside
wall of the castle, pressing my back to the cool stones.

Kymber ducked behind a shrub and joined me a
moment later. “So far, so good,” she whispered.

“We have a long way to go.” I glanced upward. As
I’d hoped, the row of shrubs and the parapet’s overhang protected us from above.

“I know.” She gripped my hand. “This feels a
bit like the old days.”

I smiled. “It does, doesn’t it?

She leaned in and kissed me – a lingering kiss,
so soft.

“What was that for?”

“For luck. And because I love you. I . . .” Kymber
traced a heart in the dirt with the tip of her boot. “The past few months have
been some of the best of my life. You are the only one who could light that
kind of a fire in me.”

“Yes, well, that would be anger, my love.” I
chuckled quietly.

“You do go about it all wrong, but somehow, you
still manage to make me a better person. I wanted to tell you how much I loved
you before we got too far into this. It should never be said out of desperation
or because . . . because you think you’re going to die. I wanted to say it when
I could take the time to mean it.”

“You are not going to die. We have two children
to raise.” I leaned over and bumped my forehead gently against hers. “I
understand what you meant though. I love you too, Kymber. I loved you from the
first moment I laid eyes on you.”

She grinned. “Could’ve fooled me. You tried to
cut the tie holding my breeches up, as I recall.”

“Do you blame me? You have such a lovely
bottom.”

Kymber went still, sighed, then laid her head
on my shoulder. “I’m afraid.”

“So am I.” She hadn’t said it because she
wanted to quit. She simply wanted me to acknowledge my fear so she could
acknowledge hers. We were a team. It would ever be so, no matter what side of
the grave we slept on.

Her eyes searched my face. I saw the barest
hint of a smile. “I’m going to shove Silverlight right through that bastard’s
throat.”

“Not if I get there first. Let’s go.”

Hand in hand, we headed toward the unknown.

W
e moved unimpeded to the rear of the castle. At
least until we rounded the corner of the left front tower and stumbled upon
four inebriated guards pissing against the wall.

Magnus stopped so fast I ran into his back. I
stared at the astonished men as several thoughts came to me:
“They’ve seen
us, so we can’t let them live” followed by “Gods, we have to keep them from
sounding the alarm!”

We all exploded into action at once. “I want to
see flying elbows and assholes,” my father used to say during mock battles at
T’hath. I saw them now between the six of us, though the advantage was ours. We
didn’t have cocks hanging out of our hose.

 The soldiers scurried like blind mice
searching for a hole in the wall, cursing and groping for their weapons. I
slipped my hand between my cloak and tunic and pulled my sword.

“Keep them silent!” Magnus hissed. He slid
Bloodreign from its sheath and struck at the nearest guard, causing a thin
bloody line to appear across the soldier’s throat. Blood bubbled between the
man’s lips before he pirouetted and slumped to the ground.

“Gods! Alman!” The guard behind him shifted his
gaze between  the two of us and the body of his friend.

Don’t run, don’t run
. Angling Promise to
the left, I slashed upward, and caught him across the throat. He fell to the
ground without saying a word.

The two remaining soldiers warily advanced,
swords drawn. One was skinny and frightened, the other was the size of a small
shithouse.

They were too close for either of us to get a
good hit. I dropped my guard and listed to one side, pretending I’d been
injured.

Poor, weak, wounded female – it worked every
time. I drew the smaller man off, leaving Magnus to contend with the remaining
guard.

I moaned and clutched my stomach, limped back a
step or two, nearly went to my knees, then began the performance all over
again. Junior Guard took the bait and followed, though I thought I’d lost him when
he asked, “How come you ain’t bleedin’?”

I moaned louder and stumbled into a nearby
tree.

When we were a safe distance away, I made a
miraculous recovery and swung at him with gritted teeth. He was still shocked
and blinking when he hit the ground.

“You all right?” Magnus asked after he’d killed
his man.

“Fine,” I said, though I knew a moment of
remorse. There was no glory in killing an innocent man doing guard duty for his
king, but it was us or them. The truth is a cruel mistress. The more alert and
better prepared were usually the survivors.

These particular guards had been drinking and
throwing dice in a back corner of the castle, in the shadow of the burnt wing.
I counted ten empty wine bottles. “Guess they didn’t think anyone would find
them here.”

“Don’t scowl, Kymber.” Magnus bent and rolled
one of the dead guards onto his back. “Dereliction of duty is a crime
punishable by death. We gave them a far more merciful end than King Garai would
have, had he caught them at their games.”

“I know. It’s just…they didn’t expect it,
that’s all.”

“Fortunate for us.” Magnus tugged at the ties
on the man’s leather jerkin. “Help me get his clothes off before they’re all
bloody.”

I crouched beside him. “Why?”

“If it gives an advantage, use everything
available. Don’t you remember that lesson?” He smiled. “Behold, the Pentorian
uniform complete with body armor. Not only will these things provide us with a
disguise, but their outer jerkins are made of thick leather. The chainmail is
dense, but light and flexible.” Magnus hoisted the soldier up to a sitting
position. I slid the leather vest off and pulled the hauberk over the dead
man’s head.

“I remember,” I said, though I truly hadn’t
until he mentioned it. “Which one of the interior sentries will be the first to
notice the one guard wandering the halls in a uniform that’s three sizes too
big for her? Most of these men . . .”

“Take the clothes off the one you killed. He’s
the smallest.” Magnus stripped down to his underclothes. “If they won’t fit, I
can always bind your wrists and pretend I’m bringing you in as a prisoner.”

“No. I don’t like that idea at all.” It would
be just my luck to meet Garai in a dark hallway, with me already trussed up
like a hog bound for the spit.

I stared at the body peeking out from under the
bottom branches of the lacy pine. Only his hips and legs were visible, but
Magnus was right. He was the smallest. His clothing would fit me well enough,
if the jerkin and tunic weren’t already drenched with blood.

I gripped the guard’s ankles and dragged him
out to have a look. Blood had begun to congeal around the neckline of his
jerkin, glossy and bright red against the dark leather. I pressed a hand to my
abdomen as my stomach protested.

“You’re as pale as a swamp ghost.” Magnus shook
his head. “The sight of blood suddenly sickens you?”

I knelt to strip the man. “Suddenly” was an apt
description for the way I felt. I was suddenly tired of fighting and killing.
Future misery awaited the families of these four dead, drunken men who’d sought
a bit of mindless pleasure in gaming.

All because I wanted my old sword back.

Every time I thought of abandoning our mission
and going home, the voice in my head scolded me. “Go and take that damned sword
back.” The time I’d lost here demanded retribution. I didn’t know which voice
was the wisest.

“I don’t enjoy killing those who don’t deserve
it.” I tossed the guard’s clothing to the ground, wincing as the hauberk hissed
into a gleaming pile, and stripped down to my chemise. “You shouldn’t either.
They were simply gaming and passing around a bottle. I’m sure there’s probably not
much to smile about around here.”

Magnus slipped his purloined hauberk over his
head and jerked the hem, causing it to settle into a more comfortable position
on his body. “You’re letting your past experiences blind you to the task at
hand. Any one of these men would’ve happily cut your throat for you, Kymber.”

“I know. Gods, I know that.” Was I losing my
nerve? My warrior’s heart? Cheeks aflame, I bent to the task of dressing.

I slipped the hauberk over my head and let go.
The mail draped down the lines of my body like it had been made for me, though
it was much too long. I slipped off my breeches and used them to wipe the blood
from the collar of the leather jerkin. It was too long as well, but I could
take up some of the slack by tying it tightly.

The man’s black hose came next, a surprisingly
good fit. Finally dressed, I slipped the leather baldric and the scabbard
holding Promise onto my back and buckled it across my chest.

“What should we do with the bodies and our
clothing?” I asked. “And make sure you find somewhere to hide your shoe nails.”
The nail I’d forced into the bottom of my boot was still there. I pulled the
other from the hem of my tunic and pushed it inside the jerkin’s collar.

“Shove everything under the hedge row. I wish I
could tell you no one will miss these men, but that’s probably not true. Their
replacements will eventually come looking.” Magnus buckled Bloodreign around
his waist and gave the belt a tug to tighten it.

“Hopefully, we’ll be miles away when they’re
finally discovered.” I nervously glanced in the direction of the guardhouse.

“Let’s not waste time getting in and getting
out then. It will be dark soon. Do you know where you’re going?”

“If I can get in from the burnt wing, yes. I
was dragged down that hallway often enough.” I deftly tied the leather straps
down the front of my jerkin. “When I wasn’t already out of my mind with pain, I
tried to pay attention to my surroundings. In case I ever got the chance to
run. How do I look?” I smoothed my hands over my waist.

“How do you feel?”

“The hauberk isn’t as heavy as I thought it
would be. I don’t think I’ll have a problem fighting. If I do, I’ll strip down
to my chemise as fast as I can.”

“Well, you look like a woman trying to disguise
herself in a male soldier’s gear. Pull the hauberk’s hood up to hide your
hair.” I did as requested. “That’s it.” He frowned and shook his head. “No, the
hood doesn’t come forward far enough to hide your eyes and the delicate lines
of your face. I can tell you’re a beautiful woman wearing a disguise.”

“What am I supposed to do about that?”

“Here. Hold still.” He scooped up a handful of
dirt and began to rub it over my cheeks and forehead. “This will help a little,
though you may have to keep your eyes lowered if we run into trouble. Those
long, dark lashes of yours scream
female
.”

“I’ll stay behind you if I can.” I shrugged.
“If not, I have Promise.”

“All right.” He put firm hands on my shoulders
then bent to give me a kiss. “Let’s go.”

I
t was eerie to stand
within the ruins of the back wing.

I’d laid my head on a pillow here. On the
second floor, in the west corner tucked against the main building. Now open to
the sky, this entire ghostly skeleton had once been part and parcel of the
castle.

It had stood three floors high, with tall,
arching windows in every room, staggered throughout the walls for strength.
Very few of the arrow slits at the top, near where the parapet would’ve been,
had survived the fire, having either crumbled inward or outward. Some of the
walls delineating the rooms and privies remained in place, making it easy for
us to hide ourselves as we explored.

Wind moaned through what was left of the
building. It sounded forlorn and dreadful, like a dead man fighting to stay in
a world that didn’t want him anymore. The castle itself was a soft gray, but
the interior walls still standing were black and crusted with soot.

It must’ve been a roaring fire, with tall flames
licking at the sky. Could they see it from miles away? How many had rejoiced,
thinking the goblin army had set the castle ablaze during the battle? I smiled.
No one could have known it was simply a desperate woman trying to escape by torching
her curtains with candles she shouldn’t have been able to reach.

I glanced up at the jagged edge of brick along
the east wall. The glass-roofed aviary had been in that corner, to catch the
morning sun. Small shards of glass glinted like diamonds amongst the weeds and
rubble on the ground.

Had Garai lost his birds in the conflagration? Unexpected
remorse coursed through me. At one time, those birds had been a welcome
distraction.

A few of them had talked. “Hello” and “How are
you today?” said in the cheerful-if-scratchy voice of a parrot were sometimes the
only words I heard all day. Those birds and James the chicken had been my
friends for a while.

Unfortunate that I now thought of them only in
their capacity to hurt Garai. If he’d lost them, I hoped he was devastated.

Remorse again. Ah, well. Those feelings were
probably normal, given what he’d done to me, but I truly hadn’t meant to harm
those innocent birds. “I can’t go back and do anything differently.”

“What would you do differently?” There was a
note of reproach in Magnus’s voice.

“I would’ve set the birds in the aviary free
before I burnt this place. They looked out through bars too. To tell you the
truth, I didn’t even think about them.” I kicked at the partially burnt
remnants of a desk drawer, lock intact, astonished that it survived the inferno.
“I just did whatever I had to do to get out.”

Magnus nodded. “And rightly so.”

“I know, but they were just as stuck as I was.
I never meant to hurt them.”

“Kymber . . .”

“Listen,” I said irritably. “Body and
practically soul, I belonged to someone else. I came to view things
differently. Birds and sunshine and chickens in the window. They kept me from
going insane. Don’t discount my feelings because you don’t understand.”

Magnus turned away, perching his foot atop a
round and blackened rock. “I
do
understand. I used to sit very still and
imagine I heard your laughter on the wind. It eased my mind if I could believe
you were out there somewhere, forging a life for yourself just beyond my sight.
It was the only way I could face the long days.”